Hello

[mirletaliz]

Just want to see if this group is actually active with real people and
not advertisers and spammers.
I don't currently have any birds, but my family used to and I'm
thinking about getting one again. ~L!

[Ginger]

Well as far as being active, its not.  I wasn't aware I was even a member, now that I think about it.  However...  The Spammers havent found it yet...  Unless YOU are one? Ginger   -------Original Message-------

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[Liz Hiles]

LOL No Ginger, I'm not a spammer! And I don't think I've even ever been mistaken for one! lol Guess I'll stick around for awhile longer!  Maybe we could spur on some conversations...
What kind of bird(s) do you have Ginger?

Like I said in my previous message, I don't currently have any, but as a kid we had a couple parakeets and a cockatail. A friend of the family lived with us for awhile in HS and she came with her African Gray and Cockatoo. I would eventually like to get a parrot but am unsure when I'm going to be able to afford it. ~L!
"Everyone needs beauty...places to play in and pray in where nature may heal & cheer & give strength to the body & soul alike." ~John Muir

[Ginger]

Liz, I apologize for accusing you of being a spammer!!!!!   Its just because the group is so small and inactive, it is a target.  I honestly didn't even know I was a member, LOL LOL!!!!!!!   Well I guess I should introduce myself, as you know, my name is Ginger, I am a senior, I'm single by choice, we are living in north Florida after losing my home of 33 years to a huge oak tree back in 2001.  In seconds our lives were changed forever, we've bounced around some 5 times trying to find a place where we can live in safety and peace...  I have no family, and being alone, finding a place to live for us has been very difficult, I was married most of my life but when my last child reached adulthood I threw the bum out, it only took him less than a year to pick up Hepatitis 3 from some slut...  Thanking God that I got rid of him before he infected me too.   Anyway, I moved where I'm at in late September 05 with my two parrots, and began resuming what was left of our lives, it was very hard, and its STILL  hard, this place is a dump, its WAY too small and has so many things wrong with it that if I told the city of its condition, I have no doubt they'd condemn it, but then its the only place I can afford for us to live.   But anyway, finally in a safe place to live, I began to make friends around town and re-established myself back in cyberspace again.   In a couple of years, someone contacted me about a Greater Sulphur Crested cockatoo she had been fostering for a little over a year, it seems that the bird she had came from a terribly abusive man- he was a nasty homo who had many wild parties in his house, with many people drinking and doing drugs, the bird had been exposed to frequent all night long parties, people would blow smoke and pot in his face, they'd pound on his cage to make him react...  He learned how to bite people with such speed and accuracy it was astonishing.   She had tried to gentle him in the time she had him... But she worked full time for a man & wife who both had cancer....   He had slowly gotten worse & worse; she finally took over the business just about April 2007, only to find out in august that she had sinus cancer.....  But neither of us knew it when she drove all the way from the foothills of the Blue ridge mountains in Virginia to Florida to bring me Jingles...   Jingles was 12 when he arrived in April, his feathers were in terrible condition, dry, very powdery, shredded and jagged edged everywhere.  He had a habit of laying his head sideways it was clear that he had picked up some obsessive/compulsive disorder either from life with the man or being caged for nearly all the time he was living with Angela, who worked full time, 6 days a week... Long hard days... None of the birds got out enough, and jingles (who was named Mandy by her, in the belief that the bird was female) was no exception.   He came to me at 920 PM on April 5th, 2oo6, a very thin bedraggled looking, scared to death little fellow who talked like a cockatiel because he adopted their speech, she had something like 20 other tiels, two other cockatoos, and a grey, all in a "bird" room.    This little fellow has taken a very long time to adjust to a "normal" life; he came home after a long drive from Virginia to Florida, we got his cage put together in a hurry, I gave angie food for him and she put it in his cage because he would not tolerate me to be near him.  Having been to terribly abused by the man, when he was saved by Angie, he naturally bonded to her, yet was still a wild animal.   It has been a very long and rocky road back to happiness for this little fellow, now he obviously loves me, he is still very unpredictable - biting hard without any reason- instantly feeling sorry for his actions... Yet he still does it..  I am convinced it was because of terrible torment from the man and his drugged and drunken friends that caused it.    Since then, I've rescued a few others, I saved a precious little Umbrella Girl in June of 06, paid $700 for her & a huge cage in perfect condition, and gave her & the cage away to my friend Pat this January past, my friend has wanted a cockatoo  her whole life and could'nt buy one...  I was about to take on a couple of other big birds and decided pat & Ron would be perfect for LadyBird... A typical cockatoo, she demanded a great amount of attention and I just didn't have time to devote to just one bird... So I surprised my friend with the bird one afternoon...   It was the best thing I could do for the bird.   She needed one person with no other birds...  And I needed the space.    I have gone on and on here, lol lol... So I'll just say that now there's 7 birds here now, a darling little Quaker girl about 9 months, 3 cockatoos, (2 Greater Sulphur Cresteds, one Moluccan that I rescued back in November last year)  and 3 Macaws; one B&G, one Ruby, and one Scarlet.  Its all the space I have - with them being let out every day, there isn't enough space for any more... And there are many more needing homes from everywhere, people are really suffering this loss of money now.  They are trying to recover money they spent on the bird just to pay bills...  And the birds are so lost without their loved families...   I took on two macaws last November, and inside a week the moluccan was given to me.. She was truly a terribly abused bird...  More on her later, I'm falling asleep...   Where do you live?  Can you have birds where you live now?   Ginger   -------Original Message-------

SimplyMe January 2006 Graphics WWW

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[Liz Hiles]

No worries Ginger! I actually took it as a joke! I've yet to see a spammer who actually tried to have real conversation in a group first! And my question/initial post was worded that way because it is such a small group. I know from my experience with Yahoo groups that that is one thing that opens the group up to being vulnerable of being invaded by spammers....however, it doesn't much matter how large or small, active or inactive a group is if you have an on-point moderator who doesn't ignore the group! And if they can't handle it or want to leave, do the courtesy of asking others to step up to moderate or own the group and if no one does, close the group!  (Okay, so I didn't really mean to get on that soapbox there...moving on!...)

By the way, I've had the experience of forgetting that I was a member of groups too! So don't feel bad!

Sorry to hear about your rough times with having a place to live. I can sort of relate to that and may be in a tricky place again. And where I'm at now is not really any big treat either.

Good thing to hear that you got rid of the ex before he got you sick too. Sometimes I wonder what people's thought processes are about things like that!

I love the name Jingles...poor thing has definitely had a challenging life. He's lucky to have landed there with you! It was so nice of you to give Ladybird to your friend. I bet she is one happy bird now being an only child...so to speak.

Wow! 7 Birds is quite a lot! Can' t wait to hear more about them.

I live in Cincinnati. And am in "my own" house...my Dad passed away this past Dec. and the house belonged to him and my brother. Right now I could have a bird, but I'm worried about the temperatures that I'd have to keep the house at. I'm not at a high paying job right now and am going to be looking for a 2nd job soon just to be able to handle all my bills and the house on my own. I have plenty of space for them to stretch their wings and fly around though.

I could probably foster a couple, but I am unsure about making a permanent commitment to an animal right now. And while bird training is a bit new for me, I know a lot about animal behavior, in general...more specifically I k now about dogs because my mother is a dog groomer, trainer, handler and breeder (and has been since '67).  I currently have no critters....and when our friend lived with us, her birds, specifically her cockatoo, were not in the best of shape and were starting to lose feathers due to stress and being moved around too much. We fed them all natural stuff and lots of fresh and some frozen fruit and they started turning around very quickly.

I have started printing off some info about taking care of birds from the internet and am open to some titles of good books on caring for birds so I can read them and know more before getting my own. (I buy them used off Amazon typically)

Anyway, can't wait to hear more about your crew and to continue conversations.....

If anyone else is out there and paying attention...please join in the discussions! ~L!

"Everyone needs beauty...places to play in and pray in where nature may heal & cheer & give strength to the body & soul alike." ~John Muir